Africa

From eroding coastline to depleted fish stocks, the effects of climate change are being felt along West Africa's coast and governments and environmental groups are coming together to talk about what can be done to mitigate its impact.
The ocean breaking on southern Senegal's coastline does not look much different from any other beach

Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has arrived in Britain and has declared he is leaving Moammar Gadhafi’s government.
The British foreign office said Wednesday that Koussa traveled from Tunisia to London under his own free will, telling officials he is resigning his post. British officials urged Mr. Gadhafi’s other supporters to desert him as well.
A Libyan government spokesman denied the foreign minister has defected, saying he is in Britain on a “diplomatic mission.”

U.S. President Barack Obama says Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's camp knows his reign is reaching its end, as the international community steps up pressure on his government.
In a television interview Tuesday, President Obama said the “noose has tightened” around Mr. Gadhafi, and that those around him are starting to recognize “their days are numbered.”

Namibia's president has declared a state of emergency after floods killed at least 62 people north of the capital Windhoek.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba said Tuesday the country could be experiencing some of its worst flooding.
An estimated 10,000 people have been displaced and 247 schools closed

A negotiated outcome in the Ivory Coast crisis appeared further out of reach Tuesday as forces backing the country's internationally-recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, captured several key towns.
In an offensive begun Monday, the fighters have captured Bondoukou and Abengourou in the east, the west-central town of Daloa and the western town of Duekoue. From there, the pro-Ouattara New Forces continued their march south toward Abidjan

Some of the world’s finest specialty coffees come from Africa, and now some African countries are looking at ways to make sure the perks of the lucrative coffee trade are not limited to coffee connoisseurs.
Morning at a coffee shop in Washington and the grind is on

The U.N. Security Council is considering tough new measures to press Ivory Coast’s incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to end months of post-election violence and finally transfer power to his rival Alassane Ouattara, who won the November presidential election.
The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly expressed concern over attacks against civilians in Ivory Coast, where the United Nations says post-election violence has killed at least 462 people and injured scores more

Libyan rebels, backed by a barrage of Western airstrikes, seized control Saturday of the strategic eastern oil town of Ajdabiya from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Ajdabiya is about 160 kilometers south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi

The U.N. refugee agency says up to one million people have fled their homes in Ivory Coast because of post-election violence.
Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters on Friday the mass flight is being fueled by “fears of an all-out war.”
The agency estimated that between 700,000 and one million people have been displaced, mostly from the commercial city of Abidjan

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says there is no evidence to support Libyan assertions that it is complying with a cease-fire. In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council Thursday, the U.N. chief said he continues to have serious concerns about the protection of civilians, abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law

A U.N. official in Ivory Coast says forces loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo are “indiscriminately” shelling areas seen as backing Mr. Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara.
Human rights official Guillaume Ngefa told a news conference Thursday that the shelling and other attacks have killed at least 50 people in the last week, including five children, and wounded dozens more

Several explosions were reported east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Thursday, as a U.N.-approved military operation to enforce a no fly zone over the country entered its sixth day.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi had resumed their assault on the western city of Misrata Wednesday after Western planes had temporarily halted the government attacks with a series of airstrikes

When thousands of ministers, scientists and activists descended on the Mexican resort town of Cancún for another gruelling round of talks on climate change last December, there was little of the debate about the science of global warming that marked the chaotic 2009 meeting. The weather had seen to that

A luxury commuter bus pulls up by the kerb to pick up passengers. A young woman quickly jumps in, retrieves a smart card from her wallet and swipes it against a machine next to the driver before taking her seat. A routine occurrence in Germany or the US, but this is Rwanda, one of the world’s poorest countries, where genocide in 1994 nearly brought the tiny landlocked African country to its knees

When the world’s biggest retail company, US-based Walmart, bought a majority stake in South Africa’s Massmart — also a retail company — for a staggering $2.5 billion last year, eyebrows were raised. Foreign investors in Africa usually put their money in the riches that lie beneath its soil, not over its discount counters. In fact, the steady growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) to the continent during most of the past decade has been mostly concentrated in mining, especially oil

Ivory Coast's incumbent president is warning international journalists they will be considered “accomplices to terrorists” if they do not present a more balanced picture of the country's political crisis.
Laurent Gbagbo said Tuesday in a statement read on state television by his spokesman that international media are making up atrocities committed by his supporters. For example, the statement said journalists fabricated reports security forces shelled civilians in an Abidjan neighborhood last week